


Call a Guy

by Hammocker



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Actually dead, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, David Never Fakes His Death, Domestic, Frank is a Repair Guy, Frank is in your house, M/M, Pre-Slash, Repairing your family bonds, Role Reversal, Sarah is dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 15:46:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17368775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hammocker/pseuds/Hammocker
Summary: David was good at a lot of things. He could cook, clean, and code, all the important things in life. What he wasn't was handy, and, for as long as he could remember, he'd needed to call in help for mechanical repairs. He'd never expected to get anything more than a fixed sink or a properly installed light fixture out of that habit.





	Call a Guy

**Author's Note:**

> The world needs more sweet Frank and David fics, and more sweet Frank and David AUs. This is my contribution to that effort.

David stared up at the series of pipes running under the kitchen sink. The longer he stayed there, the less it all made sense, and the more his eyes glazed over. He knew that water wasn’t draining, so logically, something had to be wrong. Maybe something was in the way, something that hadn’t been taken care of by the garbage disposal. Yet as much as he poked and putzed, David still had no grasp on what he actually needed to do.

With a groan, David extracted himself from the sink cabinet. He hated real, mechanical breakage so much. Pipes, motors, appliances, none of it made sense in David’s head. His own kids understood it better than he did. David had always been better with the abstract than the physical. Math made sense, code made sense, but whatever dark forces that allowed plumbing to function didn’t.

Well, David knew the only way this was going to end. He didn’t have time to figure out what was wrong and what he needed to do. There was dinner to think about, and laundry to do, work to get done. But first of all, David had a call to make.

*****

It was in the middle of David sipping chamomile and working on sorting out bits of data that there was a solid knock on the door. David started at the sound, splashing a bit of tea on himself. He sighed, but figured that it was hardly noticeable on the gray of his shirt. What did he care what some repair guy thought of him anyway?

David meandered over to the door, but as he opened it, he froze.

For a minute, he didn’t think that the guy in front of him was the same one he’d called. Whoever this was, he didn’t strike David as the plumber type. Sure, he carried a toolbox, and wore a coverall, but he had a rugged air about him. He was a little shorter than David, but his broad chest and shoulders left David feeling inadequate. The crew cut and crooked, almost squashed nose only added to the effect.

“Hear you’re having a drainage problem,” the guy spoke up finally, breaking David’s trance.

He spoke with a slight slur, words bleeding into each other, and his eyes were distant too, but David couldn’t say that he thought this guy had been drinking. He definitely didn’t smell the part and he was standing up perfectly straight. 

“Yeah, yeah, that’s about right,” David said as he stood out of the guy’s way. “You know, we do have a bell.”

“Doesn’t look like that’s in great condition either,” the guy informed him casually, before brushing past David.

Great, more problems that David didn’t know how to deal with by himself. Just wonderful. Not knowing what else to do, David headed in and towards the kitchen sink.

“Uh, yeah, there’s the problem,” he said, giving a vague gesture.

Even as David trailed off, the guy didn’t say a word. He just knelt down, opened up the cabinet and started taking a look. Well, okay then. David supposed that he couldn’t fault a guy for getting right to the point.

“You, uh, you got something I can call you?”

“Frank Castle,” the guy replied, gruff, as thought the question was especially inane and pointless.

Frank. He looked like a Frank.

“Well, Frank. I’ll be nearby.” He debated with himself for far too long before tacking on, “I’m David.”

Frank gave a grunt, but his focus seemed completely taken by the plumbing then. Figuring that he was settled, David shuffled off to get back to his code and chamomile.

Not more than ten minutes later, Frank approached him once more, one palm held out. He glanced up and found himself face to face with a handful of marbles. The blood drained from his face.

“These look familiar?” Frank asked, impartial as ever.

“Yeah. Yeah,” David admitted reluctantly. He sighed, trying to find a way to explain it, to himself as much as Frank. “My son, he- he hasn’t been in the best of ways since Sarah…”

He trailed off, looking for the right word that never seemed to come. The silence, though, seemed to tell Frank all he needed to know.

“Your wife, huh?” he finished.

David couldn’t look at him anymore. “Yeah. Been hard on all of us.”

“Must be.” Frank worried his lip and centered his posture, like he had something in his mind. “I know how that is. Lost my family some years back.”

David blinked, looking up at Frank once more. “Your family?”

“Yeah. Wife and two kids,” Frank droned, his eyes glassy. “It was bad.”

“I’m so- so sorry.” David tripped over his own words, trying to process the ache in his heart. “God, I just- I can’t- that’s not something I can imagine.”

“Yeah.” Frank blinked, and then he was back, his eyes refocusing on David. “Must be hard, bringing those kids up without her.”

Despite the twisting in David’s stomach, he couldn’t help but appreciate the sympathy. It was nice, having someone care, or even notice.

“Hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure,” David said with a humorless chuckle. “Feel like I barely know them anymore.”

Frank was giving him a look, a long, strange look that David just couldn’t read. David had trouble reading people normally, but this guy- he was something else.

“So, right, your fee,” David veered, reaching for his wallet. “I’ll just pay cash, make it-”

“How ‘bout you give me half of what you owe me and we’ll call it even,” Frank broke in. “I ain’t hurting for cash.”

“Neither am I,” David partially fibbed with another uncomfortable laugh. He could use every dollar he could get, but…

“More money in your pocket then,” Frank pushed. “Do something nice for your kids with it.”

“I- Well…” David pulled out his wallet, and peered inside. “Thank you.”

Frank took the bill from him, folding it between his fingers before pocketing it. Then, in an even stranger move, he gave David a half-smile, speaking once more.

“You ever need anything else, give me a call.”

With that, Frank turned and made his way back over to the door, letting himself out and shutting it as he went. David could only watch him the entire time, his work all but forgotten.


End file.
